A Brave New Carbon-Fiber World - by Rick Spreitzer

Please welcome our new contributor Rick Spreitzer, former CA endorser artist and carbon fiber guitar enthusiast. He sent us this delightful article. We hope to have more entries form him soon. Enjoy it!

As a guy barreling down on half-a-century, I have had the pleasure of playing some mighty fine wooden guitars. There are a few that stand out: a golden-topped 1976 Martin D-35, a 1965 Gibson cherry-sunburst J-45 (my first vintage guitar!), and a 1942 Gibson L-00 (that to this day, I regret selling). In the past year, I splurged on a Collings OM-1 that is sublimely intoxicating.

But there’s an unlikely addition to this list of stand-outs: my 2007 Composite Acoustics Performer GX. To me, it’s a guitar that does it all. It’s an amazing rhythm guitar. It’s balanced enough to play finger-style. It sounds great plugged in. It has the best intonation of any guitar I’ve ever owned. It takes well to aggressive capo-use and alternate tunings. It’s also virtually indestructible because it’s made entirely out of carbon fiber.

Why I Love Carbon Fiber Guitars

Hi my friends! i'm Martin Blanes from Galicia, Spain and i'll tell you about these wonderful guitars. They are all made of carbon fiber, they sound amazing and they have changed my life as a traveling musician.

Welcome to the Carbon Fiber Guitar Talk Corner!

The moment i realized i needed a change was when i had a trip for a tour from my town in Spain to Poland. I had to do 2 scales to get to my destination, and it was the only option i had to arrive in time for my concert. I started with a chilling rainy morning in my town, then i flew to Madrid and it was hot and dry, followed by a nice warm afternoon in Switzerland to end the trip in Warsaw with a terrible foggy rainy windy weather. In fact we couldn't even land there but it is a different story. 

the worst part of the story was when i opened my guitar case when i arrived at the concert hall. I couldn't even recognize my guitar. Even the finish of the neck was cracked as you can see here! And the top of the guitar was soooo soaking wet that i had it simply didn't sound. I knew it was my guitar but i couldn't recognize it. Not to mention that the action changed terribly. It was a very hard concert for me, as you can imagine. It took almost 3 days for the guitar to be what it used to be. then i realized i needed a change.

All those problems are non-existent with carbon fiber guitars. They are completely unaffected by humidity or heat  and they don't care how fast the weather changes! You can play open air in the middle of a hot desert and then in antartica and the guitar won't notice it. probably it will still be almost in tune!

Reliability is the word. I need a reliable instrument to work as a professional musician at the top of my abilities. 

also, these guitars are really light and almost indestructible. Now i can declare my guitar as luggage and i'll be flying completely restful. I would never imagine this to happen when i was playing wooden guitars.

In fact, the best guitar cases are made of carbon fiber so you can have a picture of how strong they are

afterwards i discovered that these are some of the finest guitars money can buy. The quality of all of them is absolutely top notch and the craftsmanship is superb. the designers at all the factories are some of the most talented people i've ever met. also, carbon fiber engineering allows you a lot more possibilities that unreachable with wood. It is the true bleeding edge of guitar evolution.

Do yourself a favor. whenever you have the chance, try a carbon fiber guitar. They are reliable, they are resistant and they weigh nothing, but what you will love most is the sound.

There is not such a thing as a bad carbon fiber guitar. you can't go wrong with any.

Do you feel like knowing a little bit more? Just check www.macnichol.com and the carbon fiber guitar forum you'll find there. also you can check the websites of the companies at www.emeraldguitars.com, www.blackbirdguitars.com or www.compositeacoustics.com.

Please check my videos on youtube or at www.martinblanes.com.

Pleased to meet you. Excuse me, but i have to go back to my playing. See you soon!